Eight-time winners Chelsea take on Crystal Palace in Easter Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final derby at Wembley hoping to blow away any disappointment from the Champions League exit at Real Madrid on Wednesday. Palace will have been delighted with the overtime required, but surely also impressed by the quality of the performance.

This is the world champions’ 54th outing of a globe-spanning campaign worthy of Alexander the Great, while the Glaziers have fulfilled 36 fixtures. The Blues’ most-involved player, Toni Rudiger, has clocked up a total of 4,290 minutes. Remarkably, the Eagles’ most-used man, former Blue Marc Guehi, has played 27 per cent fewer minutes: 3,150.

Chelsea are on a run of nine straight victories against Palace going back to 2018, but the two sides have not met in any cup competition since a League Cup quarter-final 29 years ago at Selhurst Park, which the hosts won. The career paths of coaches Thomas Tuchel and Patrick Vieira have crossed six times previously, five going in the Bavarian’s favour (two while at Chelsea) and the other drawn.

Palace were last semi-finalists in 2015/16, when they beat Premier League Watford but lost to Manchester United in the final after extra time. The same opponents defeated the Eagles 1-0 in the replayed 1989/90 final after a 3-3 draw. The south Londoners’ only other last-four appearances were in 1975/76 and 1994/95.

Chelsea have won nine of our previous 10 FA Cup semi-finals played at Wembley and on this day last year savoured victory over Manchester City, with Hakim Ziyech’s strike proving decisive. We now aim to reach the last two for the third year in a row. Outside of finals, the Blues have lost only once in this competition since January 2017.

Chelsea team news

Having won the game but lost the tie on Wednesday in Spain, Chelsea now face an all-London skirmish on the domestic front. Extra time in Madrid did not help players’ fatigue, but the five substitutions allowed in the FA Cup will hand Thomas Tuchel some leeway.

The victory against Real emphasised the fine form some attacking Blues are in. Timo Werner has netted three goals in two games as the left attacker in a pair, joining Kai Havertz (13), Romelu Lukaku (12) and Mason Mount (11) on double figures across all competitions.

Mount has scored three times and set up two more in the Blues’ impressive last two matches, but was missing when these two sides last met at Selhurst – the Blues’ first action after becoming world champions.

A number of other regulars were unavailable then including Cesar Azpilicueta and Reece James, and half a dozen others played despite being under the weather. Hakim Ziyech scored the decisive goal but the talk was how the Chelsea forward play lacked incisiveness, with Lukaku’s lack of involvement accentuated.

Christian Pulisic played as a no.10 position behind the Belgian that day with Havertz on the left flank and Ziyech right. Although the Pennsylvania Express has a record of five in five against Palace, Mount seems likely to keep his place on Sunday.

Tuchel will think carefully how he handles right-winger Eberiche Eze and top scorer Wilfried Zaha, likely to play wide left and not be burdened with defensive duties. Andreas Christensen and Malang Sarr started as right and left full-backs in a four-man rearguard at Selhurst Park, but James and Azpilicueta are now available, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek has proved a revelation at right wing-back.

Lukaku, responsible for three of the Blues’ dozen goals in this season’s FA Cup, is fit again, so Callum Hudson-Odoi is the only Chelsea absentee beyond long-term casualty Ben Chilwell.

After the loss of one crown, this match may be perfectly timed. Few moments motivate this team and our supporters as much as the prospect of a return to the famous arch for yet another final.

Crystal blue persuasion

Crystal Palace are the only non-winners of the FA Cup left in the competition, and their campaign has been fought entirely in London. Chelsea will be the second top-flight opposition they have met. The Blues won both league encounters, most recently a hard-fought 1-0 at Selhurst Park.Head coach Patrick Vieira has impressed in his first season after inheriting a club in turmoil, forging a team packed with individual skills, dribbling and intensity, but mostly coherence. That said, they have amassed fewer league points at this stage than any season since 2018/19.

The former Arsenal skipper will have to be shrewd in his handling of selection issues this weekend. Hard-working midfielder Will Hughes is out, dynamic winger Michael Olise and league ever-present defender Tyrick Mitchell remain doubts, while the Eagles’ standout performer, Chelsea’s on-loan Conor Gallagher, is unable to play against his parent club.

If none make it, their assets will be difficult to replace. In recent games Gallagher has been immensely influential in a no.10 role behind striker Jean-Philippe Mateta and is their second highest scorer. Olise has contributed most assists for the Eagles this season and second most crosses – behind the Cobham graduate and ahead of Mitchell – and is the most obvious candidate to assume Gallagher’s role.

Losing their usual combativeness could be crucial, too, and the Chelsea loanee is responsible for the most presses of any player in the top flight, with Mitchell third.

Unlike Chelsea, though, the Glaziers have had a clear week to prepare for this fixture and recover from the ‘wake-up call’ (as their forward Jordan Ayew labelled it) of a defeat at Leicester.

FA Cup 2021/22 regulations

There are no replays in this season’s competition. If a match is all-square after second-half stoppages, extra time will be played and, if necessary, penalty kicks will decide the outcome.

The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system is in use for this fixture. Five substitutes, drawn from a bench of nine, are allowed in three batches excluding half-time. Concussion replacements are also permitted. All yellow cards were wiped out after the quarter-finals.

For those making through, the FA Cup final is at Wembley on Saturday 14 May – the weekend the Blues are scheduled to visit Old Trafford.

Weekend travel disruption and Wembley banners

Urgent safety checks on Metropolitan Line trains have added to planned engineering work this weekend. Matchgoers are urged to check TfL’s status updates and plan ahead.Supporters should also be aware of a no-street-drinking zone in areas around Wembley.The club is encouraging Blues supporters to bring our own banners and flags to Wembley on Sunday, as long as they fall in line with the stadium policy.

There have been some iconic banners at Chelsea’s cup campaigns through the years, not least ‘SEXTON FOR GOD’ during our first successful FA Cup campaign in 1970, echoed in ‘VIALLI FOR POPE’ at Stockholm in 1998 and ‘TUCHEL FOR PM’ this year in the away stand at Middlesbrough.

We have history

Sunday brings Chelsea’s eighth all-London FA Cup semi-final over 72 years. We have won each of the last five, most recently Spurs in April 2017, when Willian put Chelsea ahead twice before Eden Hazard and Nemanja Matic secured the victory.

Crystal Palace were actually the Pensioners’ third-ever opponents in this competition (albeit preliminary round three) on 18 November 1905. Infamously, the football authorities forced the Chelsea to field two teams on the same afternoon, so while a first 11 beat Burnley 1-0 in Division Two, a scratch side was beaten 7-1 by the Glaziers at Sydenham.

Since then the two sides have met five times, including in round five of the season the Blues won the trophy for the first time, 1969/70. Roger Hoy had the home crowd celebrating when he equalised Peter Osgood’s first-half opener but, with 18-year-old Alan Hudson in commanding form, John Dempsey powered in a header and Peter Houseman cracked in a third. Ian Hutchinson’s late header made it 4-1 and the west Londoners were denied further bounty by a post’s width and clearances off the line.

The spoils from our most recent meeting in February 1976 at the Bridge went to the Eagles. Before kick-off their manager Malcolm Allison showily marched in front of the Shed with a thumb-down gesture, then three fingers, and his side made good on his prediction. Though Eddie McCreadie’s young side battled back from 0-2 to 2-2 through skipper Ray Wilkins and centre-half Steve Wicks, Peter Taylor curled in a decisive third for Palace.

Stamford Bridge North

This will be the Blues’ 27th appearance at the new Wembley Stadium when used as a neutral venue – the most for any club. However, we have lost our last four finals at the national stadium, most recently to Liverpool after a penalty shoot-out in this season’s Carabao Cup.

Palace last played at the Wembley in the 2015/16 FA Cup final. Their only other appearances at the renovated national stadium were in the semi-final that same season and the Championship play-off final of 2012/13 – both against Watford.

Cup appearances at new WembleyChelsea 26Manchester City 19Manchester United 18Arsenal 15Liverpool 8Tottenham 8Aston Villa 7Portsmouth 7…Palace 2

Race for top four

While Chelsea pursue a third piece of silverware for the season and Liverpool and Manchester City meet at Wembley the day before, top-four hopefuls Tottenham and Arsenal are in league action at home to Brighton and away to Southampton respectively.

As things stand, 16 points from the remaining 24 available should be enough to secure a Champions League place for the Blues, so inferior are the goal difference figures for the chasing clubs who can reach 78 points.

FA Cup semi-final fixtures

SaturdayMan City v Liverpool 3.30pm (BBC One)

SundayCrystal Palace v Chelsea 4.30pm (ITV)

Premier League fixtures

SaturdayTottenham v Brighton 12.30pm (BT Sport)Man Utd v Norwich 3pmSouthampton v Arsenal 3pmWatford v Brentford 3pm

SundayNewcastle v Leicester 2.15pm (Sky Sports)West Ham v Burnley 2.15pm

TuesdayLiverpool v Man Utd 8pm (Sky Sports)